Wild Blueberry Lime Coconut Ice Cream with Sfogliatine

For us “real” summer actually starts when school’s out. I am sure parents of school going children will know what I mean. Daily life takes a totally different turn with the start of summer break. The days seem longer and slightly more relaxed and even though there’s day care and work, we’re at ease and enjoy the leisure of sleeping-in in the morning, strolls to the park in the afternoon and picnics in the evening.

Then of course summer means ice cream. In big scoops and almost everyday! Our favorite gelato place in Weimar offers some great and extremely scrumptious flavor combination and while we often stop for a scoop of the delightful frozen dessert, at 1 Euro per scoop it can become an expensive treat.

But summer provides us with such a lovely variety of ripe and juicy fruit, with which we are creative and enjoy spending the afternoon making our own ice cream.

Recently we spent a weekend on a lovely lake surrounded by a thick green forest. Packing a picnic, we and a few friends went for a hike around the lake in the forest. We were surprised with bushes and bushes of beautiful, fat, juicy and sweet wild blueberries. The picking started casually, just a few to pop into our mouths while hiking. But the deeper we went the more we found. In the end we came home with boxes full of wild blueberries.

We enjoyed most of them pure or in our yogurts or muesli in the mornings, but there was enough to make a few desserts.

Soeren and I got busy one afternoon making a blueberry flavor combination for our next ice cream creation. We turned up the music – A-ha’s new album is our current favorite, put on our aprons and looked through our ingredient list.

I also had some puff pastry leftover from another baking project and wanted to use it. A little nibble of something crispy and flakey to go with the ice cream would be great, I thought and remembered the buttery Venetian cookies our Italian ice cream café often made.

Sfogliatine are a delicate cookie traditionally made in Venice. A simple affair really – two sheets of puff pastry layered and glazed with a light sugary icing and baked till golden. Not to be confused with the filled pastry also by the same name from Naples. These Sfogliatine are airy, light and flakey and can be enjoyed with a simple cappuccino or an elegant dessert.

I did not follow any recipe as such just placed two sheets of puff pastry on top of each other and cut them into square, then cut into rectangular strips. Lightly glazed them with some egg white and sprinkled with fine sugar, then baked them until they are puffy, golden and the sugar has caramelized. Be sure to cut a few slits into your puff pastry strips to avoid it puffing too much.

Once the sfogliatine were cooling on the rack we got to work on our ice cream. A few limes, coconut cream and handfuls of blueberries were going to give us our ice cream flavor of the week.

Wild Blueberry Lime and Coconut Ice Cream

In a small saucepan add lime zest, juice and sugar and on low heat gently stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Add the blueberries and simmer just until the skins of the blueberries begin to pop – approx. 2-4 minutes.

Transfer the blueberry mixture to a clean bowl and stir in the coconut cream. Allow to infuse and cool.

Whip the heavy cream in a separate bowl until it just begins to hold it’s shape. Slowly pour in the blueberry mixture and fold.

Place the mixture in the refrigerator for approx an hour. Take out and give the mixture a good whisk until it is fairly smooth.

Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer to a metal container (I often use my rectangular loaf/cake pan) and freeze. Will keep for up to a month. Take out of freezer approx. 30 minutes before serving to soften, then serve with an additional scattering of fresh blueberries.

If you are making this ice cream without an ice cream maker the procedure is fairly simple:

Follow the steps all the way to point 4. then pour the mixture into a bowl and freeze for approx. 1 hour.

Remove from freezer and using an electric hand whisk, blend the mixture energetically until fairly smooth.

Put back into the freezer for another hour, then take out and repeat the whisking again.

Finally transfer the mixture into a metal container, cover and freeze.

Making ice cream with Soeren is always a lot of fun. He is filled with great fantasies and has a wild imagination. We make up stories as we lick out the spoons or scoop out the ice cream from the machine for a pre-taste. I think this really is our ice cream of the week, it’s fruity with the succulent and sweet blueberries, the limes add a perfect zesty aroma and the coconut rounds up this consummate flavor combination magnificently. The flakey sfogliatine gives it the final crunch needed to round up a great ice cream treat.

I agree that making ice cream with my kids is fun, they enjoy it.Gotta say, what caught my attention was the mention of A-ha. They have a new album? I haven't heard anything from them since the late 80's, so I'm intrigued.

Hey Meeta, you are one heck of a mom! My mom never dared to utter the word Ice --- in front of me for I am a Icecream freak...i can literally live on it and this one is sooooooo tempting and looks lovely :) Its even more cute that your son was your sous chef unh! I am a regular reader of your blog, probably from past 2 yrs. there's hardly any time that i have missed your blog but never left a comment as you know my words would be already voiced by others....but this one...i had to tell you 'Its Adorable'. My 16 mos. old was acting as if the icecream bowl is right in front of her.....great blog meeta...

Hi Meeta,I have been reading your blog for sometime now but never left a comment this is the first time I am commenting. You have a fantastic blog here. Your son must be definitely lucky to have such a dotting mom. Your ice-cream looks so yummy! What can I say about your photography, simply fantastic! Keeps it rocking!

the facebook post lured me here even though I should probably be sleeping :PI love that you made the ice cream with coconut milk - I bet that tastes really refreshing with the squirt of lime and fresh blueberries. Your description of summer made me miss the days when I had summer vacation. That was probably one of the biggest shocks I encountered when I started working - "what do you mean we work all year round?!?"

SO incredibly delicious looking and sounding. I'm at my sister's house in Chicago with the little one and we are out of ice cream! (Can you believe that? I can't). You know I'd kill for some fresh blueberries off the bush right? Love love.

wow..........was the first word i said then the picture loaded...........the color of the icecream is so so wonderful.......and the blueberries in soren's hand(i presume) are so tempting and inviting......

Your ice cream looks awesome and the flavor combination is one I'd love. I'm having an Ice Cream Social event over at my blog this weekend. Come take a peek at all the recipes everyone is sharing and share yours there if you'd like.

Couldn't resist making this ice cream, even though today is rainy and overcast. It is chilling right now, but I am certain it will be delicious! I wasn't sure how long to cool the blueberry sauce before folding into the whipped cream - any recommendations?

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hello, I am Meeta a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer living in the cuturally rich city of Weimar, Germany with my husband and our son, where I enjoy preparing multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. What's for lunch, Honey? is my award winning food blog where I combine my love for food with my love for photography and styling...